In the film room, Kansas City Chiefs rookie wide receiver Skyy Moore has a reserved seat — right behind quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“Whenever I got a question, I just go tap him real quick,” Moore said Thursday in St. Joe, Mo. “And he’s always able to whisper the answer to me or (say) how he wants things done. So I try to stay close to him.”
Moore is one of several new receivers being counted on to help fill the void left by Tyreek Hill. The Chiefs signed JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling in free agency and drafted Moore in the second round out of Western Michigan.
The 5-foot-10, 195-pound Moore played three years at WMU and had 95 catches for 1,292 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. Now Moore is about a week away from playing in his first NFL preseason game and he’s been learning as fast as he can.
“It’s going to be a process because it is a complex offense,” Moore said “But it’s starting to click. So I feel like everything in this offense is counters. We run this play, and this play is a counter to that play. So once you get the basics of everything it starts to click a whole lot faster.”
Moore has shown good hands throughout his playing career and has been one of Mahomes’ top targets downfield during training camp.
“Just getting that timing and being able to translate that into a gameday feeling is very important,” Moore said. “Any deep ball connection is a plus. With Pat, you’re not getting underthrown here. We’re just a bunch of minions out there running.”
The Chiefs believe Moore can be a versatile player at wide receiver and he has taken snaps in the backfield and run a few jet sweeps. Moore is also getting reps as punt returner — something he rarely did in college.
“I haven’t really done it too much in a game in college,” Moore said. “So it’s really just getting a feel for when I can take it, when I got to fair catch and just doing the fundamentals of catching the punt. It’s going good, though.”
Moore added that it doesn’t matter where he plays. He just wants the ball quickly.
“I like getting the ball fast,” he said. “The faster you can get the ball, the faster you can make something happen with it. So that’s what I like about those plays.”
Lucky for him, Mahomes usually gets the ball out quickly. Now Moore just has to make sure he and Mahomes are on the same page.
“At the end of the day, he’s got the keys to the car,” Moore said. “So just tell me what you want me to do. That’s how I look at that. If he wants it done this way, I’m going to do it that way.”
